The subject matter disclosed herein relates to appliances using a mechanical refrigeration cycle, and more particularly to heat pump dryers and the like.
Clothes dryers have typically used electric resistance heaters or gas burners to warm air to be used for drying clothes. These dryers typically work on an open cycle, wherein the air that has passed through the drum and absorbed moisture from the clothes is exhausted to ambient. More recently, there has been interest in heat pump dryers operating on a closed cycle, wherein the air that has passed through the drum and absorbed moisture from the clothes is dried, re-heated, and re-used.
A challenge exists, however, in the inherent delay of the startup transient in heat pump dryers.